Coming off Cipralex

I hope someone can help me because I'm at my wits end.
I have been on Cipralex since May 2005. I started taking 10mg but this was increased to 20mg about a month later as I wasn't feeling any better. I previously took Cipralex for about a year but stopped them while having a baby.
I was very depressed while pregnant and couldn't face talking to anyone or going into work. Some days I just didn't get out of bed. I was worried that this was caused by me coming off the Cipralex & was therefore wary of starting it again. My GP asured me that feeling low was due to being preganant & not coming off the tablets. Now I'm not so sure!!! I stopped my Cipralex completely 3 weeks ago though this wasn't intentional. i ran out the 1st week, the 2nd week I had the flu and was vomitting so couldn't face taking any more tablets & this last week I just thought I've done it for 2 weeks I'll keep going as it has to get better - its not! I think the withdrawal symptons are getting worse. I am so angry most of the time and at the stupidest things. I love my husband 1 minute and am asking him for a divorce the next. He has been so understanding but its not fair on him. I don't want to take the tablets again but can't go on like this forever. Do you know how long these side effects of anger and mood swings and crying at eberything are likely to last? I can keep going if I know there's light at the end of the tunnel.

This must be all very confusing to you. But unless the physiological causes of depression is being addressed you will find it hard to get better. Drugs are palliative, meaning they do not treat the underlying biological causes of depression. They treat symptoms.

My approach to the treatment of depression is that it is a nutritional disorder, affecting the supply of biological energy (ATP) to the brain. Without that energy the brain cannot manufacture the feel good neurotransmitters such as serotonin.

I too was on cipralex. Started taking them in march 2005 and they made me feel better. gp weaned me off them over a month and i have not been taking any for 2 weeks. I FEEL LIKE SH*T! going back to doctor thursday to tell him. guess i needed them.

I'm back again & feeling a little better I think after reading through loads of different forums & learning about other peoples experiences with coming off Cipralex. Thanks for replying Pykey & Venice69. To Pykey I should say that I don't totally regret taking Cipralex - they did what they were supposed to do and lifted my depression a lot. I started on 10mg & moved up to 20mg after a few weeks as the 10mg weren't doing me any good. I think you should go & talk to your GP and see what he thinks about raising the dose. You're taking them for a reason so they need to work.
Venice69 - I'm no doctor or anything but want to share with you things I've read on other sites. Apparently most people feel like we do after coming off Cipralex completely, even if they were weaned off it. I hink the symptons are just more severe the quicker you stop taking it. Other forums mentioned that withdrawal symptoms can be mistaken for the initial reason you were put on Cipralex - i.e if you were put on it for depression you could mistakenly think that when you come off it you are still depressed. This may not be the case, it could be just withdrawal symptons. There were also comments stating that GP's often make this mistake aswell. As I say these are just things others have written so I don't know! I know that I've been angry, agitated and a bit down today but definitely better than yesterday. Is that a fluke or are things looking up. I also read that withdrawal synptons include flu & vomitting & nausea - I think this may have been a withdrawal for me & not just ordinary flu because although i feel a lot better I can't shift it totally. Think I'm rambling now so better go - think of all the good things in your life, thats what I'm going to focus on tonight & tomorrow. I am determined to stick this out for at least another week. Let me know how you both are feeling.

I to am on the dreaded drug, i consulted my doc about coming off it and he warned me against it. His comments were quote "It helps to rewire you head and make you able to face the things that were making you depressed easier and tend to them. However, when you are able to face life again that is not a sign for coming of the drug, you need to take it for at least six months longer and then get weaned of it. This is beacuse you are still fragile and the rewiring of your head is not set in concrete yet, you can quite easily be caused to relapse. Therefore tak the drug for at least six months after you have beat the depression" unquote. Hope that makes sense and helps

Well i have been off the cipralex for a month and i am back to where i started. This time i have got a headache all day which has been with me for the past fortnight. Seeing the doctor at 3 20 today and hope he puts me back on them. Personally i think i should have stayed on them longer but who am i to say!!!

Sorry you are feeling so bad. I sympathise with the headache, as I have these regularly although I am not on medication and actually have a migraine today.

Headaches do appear to be one of the withdrawal effects of Cipralex and hopefully these will settle with time. However, your doctor will no doubt be able to help you reach a decision about whether you start back on medication or not.

I started cipralex 10mg this time last year. After 6 months of feeling "better" (about 9 months of being on them in total) I started to wean off. I tapered off really really slowly, but then I when I stopped altogether (2 days before new years eve) the panic attacks and anxiety came back, as well as negative thoughts about life and the reality of it all. I'm back on 5mg every 3 days, but still feel crap. I'm going to start 5mg every other day from here, and hope that I can get back to feeling "better" and come off even slower. I'm impatient about coming off them, but that's not helping.

well - i've only been on 10mg of cipralex for 5 weeks but reading this is a bit scary!! dreading the day i stop taking it! think i'll avoid reading any more threads about cipralex and withdrawal for a while!!

Morning all, just registered to this site, I too have been on cipralex since 2001, started on 20mg and now down to 5mg, I had a really rough time at 35 going through the menopause and was living abroad at the time, they prescribed this to help with the very unpleasant symptoms I was experiencing. 6 Years on feel ready to come off them, I have tappered down before with deverstating withdrawals, so this time even with only 5mg taking things very slow, I dont know if anybody else has experienced this but I get awful, what I can only describe as brain shake, usually first thing in the morning and lasts for an hr or so, apart from the regular flu like symptons so far thats it, when you come off these drugs they have a 2 week shelf period, whereby , its usually after this period when most of the withdrawals kick in because the drug is pretty much out of your system. I would say the tappering is the key and whatever the GP's say double it in terms of coming off them, they are just too quick and make you feel like crap way to soon. xx